Fire Season

The 16 or so fires that are burning all around us right now are a reminder of how there isn't a fall season here. It's replaced with Fire season. All this week temperatures are supposed to be in the 90s. Sunday, when the Santa Ana winds were blowing like crazy, everyone knew fire would be a problem.

For any of you wondering, we are surrounded by fires, but we ourselves are not near any danger. The Malibu fires are WAY North of us. (a few hours away) There is a fire along the toll roads we take into Orange County. (about 40 minutes away) There is a fire up in the mountains where we spent some time last weekend. The most devastating and astounding fire is in the San Diego area which is about an hour away. There are multiple fires there and when you look at a map of where all the fires are, San Diego is surrounded. We have friends down there that are safe for now, but have housed some relatives that were evacuated. The only thing that affects us is the extremely poor air quality from all the smoke. A lot of people have decided to leave the area completely and go to Las Vegas or Arizona for the week. Please keep everyone in your prayers.

Happy Birthday, Micayla!

I never thought this day would arrive. My youngest sister turned 18 today. For some reason, I always called her "kid" while we were growing up. I still call her kid to this day and I probably always will.

I still remember one day when she was only a month old, everyone else had gone outside to play in the snow and go down to the frozen creek. I was watching Micayla and she fell asleep on my chest. Anyone that has ever had this happened, knows what a great feeling it is. She was so tiny!

It's also fun to think about what an older sister can make a younger sister do. There was the stage of, "she's my cute little sister." When she was 4 years old I used to make her sing songs for all of my friends. "God is bigger than the boogieman" and "We all live in the yellow submarine" were 2 of the favorites.

Then there was the time that she would be my little servant. The best was in the summer when it was really hot outside. I had her trained to get me a glass of water. Not just any glass of water, a "glass of water in a glass glass with 2 ice cubes" No more. No less.

Then, when she was 10 years old, just starting to discover who she was herself, I moved away and have missed seeing her grow up all these years. I still go back to visit and am amazed at how old and grown up she is. If there is one piece of advice I can give her. "Don't be so fast to grow up. You'll be there before you know it"

Love you, Kid and Happy Birthday!

Forever Friends

Strange how friends come and go. It all depends on what decisions are made in life and where those decisions take us.

One of my best friends from high school got married this weekend. I was blessed to be able to attend Nicole's wedding. It was a very short trip, but worth every minute and every penny. I flew out Friday morning and arrived in Minneapolis spending the evening with my family and touring a cousin's newly purchased home.

Saturday morning I met up with another good friend, Sara, from high school to drive up to the wedding with her and her mom. I have not seen Sara since she came out for my wedding 5 years ago! Strange to be on a road I have not been on for a good 10 years. The drive up to the cities gave us a chance to chitchat and catch up.

The wedding was beautiful. It was in a chapel on a college campus requiring no additional decoration. Being that it was October, the wedding colors were brown and cream and were perfect being that it is technically fall. Even though I think the high temperature that day was almost 90 degrees. (warmer than it was in CA) The leaves have not really changed. My friend was beautiful. The dress was perfect for her and she looked great. It was fun to see her family again.

Through Jr. High and High School all of my friends were Catholic. The wedding ceremony had a mass service which brought back all kinds of memories of a Catholic retreat I went to in Jr. High. (This is the trip where the infamous "peeing in a cup" story comes from) That story is really my all-time favorite "Angi story"

The wedding was at 11:00 and the reception wasn't until 5:00, so we went out to eat with my cousin and her boyfriend. They went off and did their own thing after lunch while we went to get a pedicure and check into our hotel for the night. The reception was at a beautiful historic home on Summit Ave. Dinner was fantastic and it was fun to once again chit chat and reminisce.

It's good to know that while the 3 of us are not as close as those days through High school. Miles separate us with one in Tennessee and the other in Florida, we will always be friends even if from a distance. We had a lot of drama through those years (what girls didn't in high school?) We had a our spats and wondered if we would ever be friends again, but here we were attending her wedding. Seeing what a great man she is marrying and getting teary-eyed knowing that while a lot has changed in 10 years, the joy and happiness we want for each other hasn't. And I wouldn't have missed it for the world.